New Home
by rook1939
Summary: A fic based on what might happen after the '07 movie.  It's time to patch up the wounded and make the house a home, but how?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

The dust was settling and everything was quiet. It seemed like the end to a story, but it wasn't. The battle, which had seemed to it's participants to have lasted days had lasted merely a few hours. The entire downtown of Mission City was in some form or another destroyed. From a chunk or two taken out of one side of a structure, to several buildings completely demolished- one from having two giant robots come crashing completely through them- it was in ruins.

Captain Lennox took a deep breath and looked at the four still functional mechs in front of him and the two seemingly random kids that had become embroiled in this as well. He'd seen a lot of war in the years that he'd been in the military; neighborhoods lain to waste, disturbingly empty twisted play grounds with blast craters around them, people who had been torn asunder, but now it was on his own soil. The signs that hug at odd angles or were partially blasted were in English and for familiar things like McDonalds and Macy's. Destruction was a horrible thing to witness no matter whose country it was, but there was a special pang for when it was your own backyard. People were coughing and fearfully creeping out of their hiding places, looking at their destroyed environment with disbelief. Some were crying and shaking, looking for answers to what had just transpired. He needed to get these kids and their giant friends the heck out of dodge before a mob did it for them.

Epps shrugged at him, indicating that their communications were still cut. That meant Lennox was still ranking officer and responsible for sorting things out. The aliens were getting antsy and had begun to mill about. The wide black one that had been a truck was peering at the sky line suspiciously as the largest, a big red and blue semi, gingerly touched their fallen comrade's body, head bent in sorrow. The green hummer was tending to the smallest, a yellow sports car, who was the most severely injured of the group and still alive. Each of them bore their own injuries, but the yellow one's legs were sheered off at the knee. The knee, did they have knees? They seemed to have humanoid joints when they were robots. But they were aliens. Didn't aliens have to be stranger than somehow, with multiple limbs and too many eyeballs?

Lennox hardened his heart as he heard the sirens start to wail. There was time to think about the dynamics of alien robots and monsters later when he was home with his wife in one arm and the kid in the other. They could watch Star Wars and pretend that robots were just scuttling tiny droids that spoke several million languages and took orders from whiney space pilots. "Alright people. We need to get these robots and the kids out of here."

Everyone stopped and looked at him. The bots seemed to have a military system of their own, ad recognized Lennox's authority. He looked at the surviving members of his team and felt good that at least he hadn't lost anymore of them today, "Okay, I need you to find me a truck or something to put all the de-" were they dead? Or did you say non-functioning? He gestured at the group as a whole, not making any distinction, "these uh, dead... robots into and take them for some sort of disposal or dismantling."

The huge black truck frowned and crossed his arms in answer as the kid stood up and waved his arms, "What?! No! You can't put Jazz in there like that!"

Lennox shook his head, "Now wait kid, Sam, right? We can't have these things sitting around here. They need to be out of here before someone walks over and just starts trying to take parts away."

The girl stood up, he could never remember her name. It started with an M. Mikaela. That was it. Her eyes were burning with frustrated tears and she was covered in grime. She flung out an arm that had been bloodied when she broke through the glass of a tow truck and pointed to the bots behind her, "They are not _things_, Captain. They are people. Okay, not people like you and me like humans, but they have feelings and... and are intelligent and have personalities. Just like us. And they have names." She pointed to each one in turn, "Ratchet, Bumblebee, Ironhide, Optimus Prime... and... and Jazz."

"Great, fine, nice to meet you guys. What's you're point?"

Mikaela's patience was at a complete end. The week had started out great with parties and finished projects and then it had gone down hill starting with breaking up with a boyfriend- which wasn't a bad idea in retrospect but hadn't been a real high point either- and ending in the middle of a giant alien robot war. Oh, and she'd had to steal a car. Something she'd swore she'd never do. "My _point_ is that you can't just treat them like they're some crazy terminators or something! They-"

"Things like those destroyed the base I lived on," Mikaela wasn't the only one who was completely out of patience. "Things like those didn't leave anyone _alive_, just me and my men. Then they came after us and killed my soldiers. My friends." He was nose to nose with the girl now. Her eyes were wild and unnerved. He wondered if he'd ever have to yell at his daughter like this and hoped that he never did.

Sam backed Mikaela up, "But Captain, they're _Autobots, _not Decepticons. Jazz... Jazz _died_ trying to keep Megatron from popping us like zits. I mean, come on, he deserves better than to be carted off with these assholes."

"Please," The largest robot, the one called Optimus Prime, bent down till he was at a level with the human captain. Optimus felt that he could reason with the captain, soldier to soldier. He groped around for words. So many things that a bot could instantly send from one to another that you couldn't with humans, "Jazz was our friend and compatriot, it would… wound us to see him carted away in such a manner."

"Yeah," Sam piped up. "It'd be like putting Superman in with Doomsday's body."

The captain and Mikaela looked at Sam blankly. Lennox looked at Epps who was nodding, "What? Dude's gotta point."

Surprisingly, it was Ironhide that spoke, "Captain, we have been fighting the Decepticons for millions of years. I have seen devastation of entire worlds and of my own world. I am a soldier also, I serve my people. I once believed that it was pointless to defend the humans because they were so violent," He looked at Optimus begrudgingly, "But I was wrong. Not all humans are the same, and neither are we."

Ratchet spoke up, "Besides which, I believe there's a chance I can fix Jazz."

The Autobots all swiveled to look at their medic. They had absolute faith in his ability to restore them when injured, but to restore a spark? He transmitted to them in private, \With the shard of the all-spark that Prime picked up I may be able to resurrect his spark. I downloaded a copy of his memory core to a data pad before he lost complete consciousness. Since his spark didn't cease to function from being totally destroyed, there's a chance I can repair it.\

The weary Lennox shook his head then rubbed his eyes. He tried to let the frustration drain out of him. He was tired, his men were tired, and these two kids were annoying and tired. Did robots get tired? The looming form of the Autobot leader spoke again, "I'd like to stay and keep an eye on the Decepticon's bodies, just in case Starscream returns for them."

Ratchet scanned Prime without giving prior warning and sent him a private comm. \I don't think that would be a good idea.\

Optimus flexed one fist impatiently. He knew that Ratchet wouldn't stop him for anything short of a major problem, but that didn't mean that he had to like it, \And why is that?\

The mech folded his arms and hunched his shoulders. His comm dripped with sarcasm. \Do you want me to make a list? I can send you one. It starts with stressed metal and ends with places your armor has been punctured with plenty of other concerns along the way.\

Cybertronians didn't have things like natural morphine to keep them from feeling pain after an injury, but they did have the semi conscious ability to turn off the pain receptors in most cases- or at least dampen them so that they could continue to function and fight. During the battle with Megatron, Prime had flipped quite a number of those switches to keep from collapsing. However, _like_ a human's natural pain killers, the switches would eventually come back on and at that point he would be forced to rest. Optimus could already feel some of wounds beginning to ache. \What do _you_ recommend then?\

Ratchet gave a mental shrug, \Let Ironhide and I stay with the Decepticon's bodies. He and I have taken less damage today than you have. When you get to the dam I want you and Bumblebee both to shut off for a little while and take some of the stress off.\

Ironhide patted Prime on the shoulder and said aloud, "One of these days you'll learn to duck and then you won't always be the worst for wear."

Optimus sighed. It was a long standing joke among them since before he was Prime that he didn't seem to know when to duck. His instinct was to put his massive bulk between his friends and his enemies, not duck and let the shot pass. He'd nearly gotten his spark handed to him on several occasions from his inability to avoid fire. "Very well, i you will hook up a trailer, I will carry those returning to the Dam."

Lennox nodded impatiently, unsure of what had just transpired between the aliens, "Great, okay. Epps you keep checking for a signal on those radio communicators, "He tossed one of the extra ones to the kids. "You two keep this with you just in case."

"You are not coming back to the Dam with us?" Optimus cocked his head.

"We've been shorter on sleep than this after battles just as fierce," though not as weird, Epps added mentally, "And... this is home turf. We got a chance to help people here who are going to need it, we're trained in that. You guys, the kids, you're not. Best to get y'all out of here."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2.**

The ride back to the Dam seemed so long. It took them an hour to get out of the city itself, traffic was awful as people piled their belongings into cars and headed for the proverbial hills. No one seemed sure that more aircraft or monsters or aliens or terrorists were going to pop out of the woodwork and attack their city again. Lucky for the kids they could reward themselves with sleep. Bumblebee stubbornly refused to switch off and instead kept his friend quiet company. In the darkness of the trailer, which would have been too hot for a human to ride, he watched the silent form of Jazz bounce with the hum of the road. So many had been lost and were irreplaceable. Each spark that was ripped asunder by Decepticon hands did so much damage to the sparks that still beat. In his inner thoughts the yellow mech made a mental list of the dead. Good friends and family, all gone. His home was gone.

It wasn't in his nature to be so melancholy, but he always felt less than his usual upbeat self after losing a friend. Especially after losing someone who'd fought at his side. Outside he could hear the continual honking of horns and yelling of humans. Had he misjudged them? Maybe Ironhide was right, maybe they were just a self-centered creation that would burn themselves out in a few millennium.

_Or less._ He thought to himself.

A screech and cursing could be heard right outside the walls of dirty metal. In frustration he started to reach up and bang against the side closest to the yelling.

\Bumblebee. Don't.\ Optimus sounded tired.

With a disgruntled sigh, the wounded bot scrunched himself down. \Why not?\

\It will make them more frightened.\

\People have died today... and yet I can hear them out there yelling at each other, each thinking that their need to escape this mayhem is more important than the rest!\

\They are frightened. Give them time. Were we not just as frightened and angry when war first came to our home? The first time it showed up in front of us, on our very doorsteps?\

Bumblebee didn't reply. That had been so long ago, and he'd been extremely young by Cybertronian standards. He remembered how scared he was the first time he saw his home on fire; the absolute torture he'd felt when he came back to find that the places he knew were no longer more than dust and twisted metal.

When Bumblebee had first lost his ability to speak Optimus had worried about how he had withdrawn from the others, but he never failed to bounce back and retain his disposition. Optimus sent him an image of the two children in the cab of the truck. Sam was sprawled on the seat, his head on Mikaela's shoulder. Mikaela's head kept nodding forward to smack into Sam's and then raise up again as she tried to stay awake. When it did, Sam would absently pat her hand and both would smile. \Not all humans are like that. We may have lost Jazz, but hopefully with luck and Ratchet's abilities...\

\And it's over. Megatron's done for. We can relax and just be ourselves again. No more soldiers, no more battles...\ Bee sounded a bit more positive.

\Yes, although the others may come for the shard of the Allspark...\ began Optimus uncertainly.

Bee made a buzz like a snort, \Now who's positive?\

--------

Sam stepped out of the semi woozily and took a few careful steps away. How long had it been since they'd eaten? It had seemed like a good idea to nap at the time, but now he wasn't so sure.

"Yer alive!" A blonde cannonball hurtled itself down the corridor towards them. Maggie came to a sliding surprised halt as Optimus unhooked himself and transformed slowly. _It's the ceiling, _he told himself, _I wasn't sure how low it was._ However, the aches and pains he felt as he stood up told him that he wasn't fooling anyone.

For a moment she wasn't sure what to do, but in the end the simplest thing seemed best, "H-hello. I'm Maggie. Not Margaret. Maggie." The analyst stared up and up. The blue and red mech was certainly friendlier looking than the frightening looking thing in the box and the Mega-thing that had been hanging around in cold storage. Still, the sheer size of the alien was enough to send her into a bit of delirium.

"Hello Maggie, I am Optimus Prime." He didn't bother to bend down to her, he was just too tired at this point and she didn't seem to mind.

Glen came wheezing down the hallway behind Maggie, "Geez, don't you ever slow down? OH HOLY SHIT!"

Optimus looked at him with amusement. He didn't mean to startle the humans, but he had to admit they made amusing faces when they were.

"Glen, this is Optimus Prime," said Maggie calmly. "It's okay, he won't hurt you."

"A-are you sure? I mean uh, he's kinda big."

"I have sworn an oath to not harm humans, all Autobots have. You are safe with us, Glen." Prime nodded his head to the frightened human, trying to pitch his voice in a reassuring tone.

The screeching of metal on metal announced Bumblebee's presence as he dragged himself slowly out of the back of the truck. Optimus limped over to the back and looked down, "You couldn't wait for help? How did you get the latch open from inside anyway?"

"Are you kidding? I've been holding the slagging thing closed for the past ten miles. It unlatched _itself_!"

Optimus reached down and half carried, half dragged Bumblebee away from the trailer. Maggie finished making sure the two humans were in good shape before nervously going around the corner. "Oh my GOD, what happened to your legs?!"

Bumblebee looked up at the human incredulously, "Oh those? I cut them off so I'd fit in the trailer better."

Mikaela frowned, "He got hurt trying to save us from Star-whatsis."

"But he can talk now!" Sam replied excitedly.

Bee nodded, "I've been feeling it coming back a little at a time. What do you think?"

Maggie stared at him blankly, "You sound like a 'Speak and spell.'"

Bumblebee suspected he'd been insulted, "What is... a 'Speak and Spell?'"

"I thought you guys like, downloaded like the whole internet?" said Mikaela watching Optimus try to carefully sit down and not end up on top of something. The hanger seemed to have not only housed the allspark but also a corner stash of obsolete junk. The stack of old computers, printers, and failed experiments based on things learned from the captive Decepticon was marked with a note to take it to the archives, but apparently no one had bothered to.

"Not all of it, just your languages and relevant information. There didn't seem to be a reason to retain memory of the entire thing," He sighed as he bent himself into a comfortable position. He envied the human's ability to seemingly flop down and fold themselves up into whatever position they liked. His protoform was much more flexible, but with the condition he was in he wasn't sure any stance would be comfortable. His armor was dented and stressed where Megatron had flung him around and from the times he'd fallen off of buildings. It all added up to the equivalent of bone bruises. All the damage he sustained had been aggravated by driving over the roads on the way back to the dam. To avoid traffic they had ended up on several side roads that had been in considerably less than choice conditions. It was no wonder the door of the trailer had finally popped open. "It could also be noted that even after downloading the information, we still do not always have practical use for it."

Bumblebee rested his chin in his hand and looked down at his human friends, "Yeah, sometimes you guys just don't make sense."

Maggie was nodding, "Besides if they'd downloaded the whole internet they'd probably be running around using net speak and saying things like, 'It can be hugs time now.'"

Optics sparkling with mirth, the yellow mech replied testily, "We're not that naive that we didn't- _squeak!_" Everyone turned to stare at the ungodly noise that had issued from his mouth plate. Bee didn't say anything but patted his throat a little.

Optimus shook his head slowly, "Better to have Ratchet check you over and make sure should be speaking so much before you start going into explanations about how we process information. In the meantime, I think he wanted us to shut down for a while."

The younger mech looked frustrated as Mikaela patted his shoulder, "You two just relax. Sam and I need to get some rest as well."

"Right, that's the question, food or rest first?"

"Shower." Mikaela replied, following Maggie towards the hanger door.

"I uh..." Sam felt his face heating up. "I uh..."

Glen clapped Sam on the shoulder, "Come on, let's get some food."

--------

The Sector 7 headquarters in the Dam was not home, but the promise of a little rest and a chance to lick their wounds was enough to make even Ironhide look forward to it. He dropped off his passengers and followed Ratchet into the hanger where the others waited.

Sam, Mikaela and two other humans he didn't know were seated in a circle in front of Bee and Optimus eating some sort of food. The food looked gooey, messy, and stringy; he wondered why humans ate exactly what they did. His sense of smell was nearly destroyed from the years of taking in smoke and ozone from the burning chemicals left over from battles, but he still didn't understand how they could enjoy the stuff. He ignored the stares of the humans, gave a grunt in return to the children's hellos and installed himself on the right of his slumbering leader. Prime wasn't the only one who deserved a little shut down time.

Ratchet, on the other hand, lowered himself down beside Bumblebee, who had come back on-line, and the children. Sam looked up at Ratchet, "How is it out there?"

The medic frowned and chose his words carefully. For all that these children had seen battle and risked their lives today; they _were_ still children by the standards of their people, "Not as bad as it could be."

He quietly began checking Bumblebee over while the others ate in silence. They weren't sure they wanted to know how bad it was out there, either. It was odd having a state of emergency and not having it covered from every possible news angle, worldwide communications were still down. In a way it was nice to not have a tv chattering at him, but the silence also disturbed Sam. He was already trying not to worry about his parents, Mr. Banachek had told them that they were still in California and safe, but he still hadn't been able to talk to them. They were probably going out of their heads, not to mention Mikaela's mother who had no idea where she was or who she was with.

"Let me see your throat plates, Bee." Ratchet ordered.

Bumblebee's eyes pleaded with him, "No, I don't think I need-"

Ratchet grabbed Bee and bent his head back and shot the medical laser into the sensitive parts of his still regenerating vocal processor. The humans tried not to stare as their friend made gagging strangled noises as the medic worked, "If... you'd hold still... this wouldn't hurt so bad!"

The narrowed blazing optics begged to differ.

Finally he released the yellow bot's head and looked satisfied with his repairs, "There. That should hold you till I have time to really work on it."

Bee rubbed his throat plate gingerly and said hoarsely, "Gee thanks, Ratchet."

"So, uh... where did the Secretary of Defense wander off to?" Sam lamely tried to strike up a conversation.

Maggie shrugged, "I dunno, he said he wanted to talk to Banachek about stuff and I don't know where they went after that. At least that Simmons guy is gone. God, what an asshole, he sort of creeps me out."

Mikaela looked irritated, she had a special place of loathing for that man, "Yeah. Seconded on that."

Glen rolled his eyes, "I bet he still lives with his mom."

"You should talk, Glen," snorted Maggie, polishing off her third slice of pizza.

"Hey, I live with my grandmother so that I can _care_ for her. Lord knows she can't take care of herself anymore!" he squirmed uncomfortably and tried to change the subject, "Here comes K- er Mr. Keller now." Glen watched the craggy-faced gentleman stride purposefully into the room. For all that he had never given much thought to politics outside of occasionally hacking government sites, Glen had to admit that he had a lot of respect for the SECDEF. Any man that age that could wield a shot gun like a scalpel while still wearing a pressed suit and barking out orders to send over morse code got a lot of credit in his book.

"Evening folks," Keller sauntered up to the group, not flinching at the sight of three more giant robots. After today he considered that very little would ever surprise or unsettle him again.

Ratchet, who had been making his way to Prime's left to get a little shut down time stopped mid way down to stare at the human. He recalled the information that he had on Keller from his memory banks and watched the man warily.

Keller addressed the bots, "I don't suppose you could tell me which of you is in charge?"

All eyes went to Prime's scarred frame. Ratchet nudged him and sent a comm, \Optimus, we need you.\

\Hm? What's that?\ The line was private between the two so no one heard the fuzzed, sleepy reply. Ratchet looked at his leader fondly, for all that Optimus was Prime and therefore leader of all the Autobots, he wasn't that old. Experienced in leadership and battle, yes, but he was much younger than Ratchet and Ironhide. He was closer in age to Jazz than to his medic and weapon's expert. Before the war he had been an archivist, and had continued to function in that aspect with great dedication even up to the time he became Prime. In fact, Ratchet was fairly certain that he still filed away his data with the intention of having accessible to any Autobot that wished to read it in the future. Satisfied that Prime was awake now, he busied his own systems with shutting down for a while.

The shutters opened on Optimus's optics as he glanced down at the older human in front of him. The man seemed to be trying to decide exactly how to address someone who stands at least two stories taller than you. Optimus saved him the trouble.

"My greetings to you, I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots,"_Primus. How many times am I going to have to say that?_

"Greetings, I am the Secretary of Defense of the United States of America, John Keller," He quirked one furry eyebrows, what was the best way to proceed? "I'd welcome you to our country but I guess you've been here a while."

"I have," said the yellow bot that Keller was familiar with, "But the others just got here yesterday."

"I see. I think it would be a good idea if you and I had a chat if I'm not interrupting?" He eyed the children significantly. The things that he needed to discuss with the alien leader were paramount to national security. He had a pretty firm idea of exactly what he could offer the four mechs that had just saved the country, or rather the planet.

Optimus eased to his feet. The few hours of shut down had let a lot of the minor damage repair itself to the point that the pain could be tolorated. He was satisfied that he was not going to have to limp and clank after the SECDEF. "Very well, Mr. Keller, we shall speak."

As Keller turned, Optimus slipped something into Bumblebee's hand and followed the man out into the next Hanger.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3. **

As he followed, Optimus took in the surroundings. It was chilled in this hanger, as caves were naturally apt to be. Everywhere around hung cords, lights and scaffolding- many of which were now scattered on the floor in various states of damage. The floor was damp with melted ice which had washed away the blood from the humans who had tried to keep their prisoner in his frozen state. Optimus suppressed an inner shudder at the thought of being frozen and alone on an alien world. Not that Megatron had probably been bothered about it other than to simply get angrier and angrier, but they had wanted to do the same to Bumblebee. Optimus shook his head, trying to not to hold a grudge about it. The ones who had wanted this done had not understood that they were living beings and more than the simple machines that they themselves had created, or worse the ones that they wrote about.

There were a greater number of robots featured in the human's fiction as aggressors than protectors. In fact almost all the sentient robots that weren't some sort of cyborg were usually regarded as being evil punishing monsters that wanted to destroy someone or the entire planet. A bot could easily assume that all humans would fear a sentient machine as a matter of instinct. However, he had found otherwise in Sam, Mikaela and now the soldiers. Even if they initially were frightened, they did learn to trust through example. Humans, he mused, were as dynamic as his own race. While they might not have developed as high a scientific ability as he and his kind had, their emotional potential was much the same, all the more reason to approach this particular authority figure about making a new home for the Autobots here.

Provided that today hadn't spoiled it all. He had a sinking feeling that someone would probably find it to be a wonderful movie about killer robots from outer space. Hopefully the leaders of this particular country at least would see not the destruction the Decepticons had caused but the help the Autobots offered.

Prime looked around for a suitable place to sit. He could crouch in front of the human but at the moment he didn't want to stress his servos any more than he had to. The pedestal where Megatron had been mounted for so many years seemed like as good a place as any to sit.

Without being asked, Keller climbed the stairs to the scaffolding and found a step that was blessedly dry and sat down to face the giant mech. He marveled at the creature's size and the amount of expression he could see in the layers of parts that made up the Autobot's face. He cleared his throat and addressed Prime, "So, now that your enemies have been scattered and beaten, what are your intentions for your soldiers and our world?"

--------

"What did Optimus hand you?" asked Maggie eagerly. She and Sam were practically prying open Bumblebee's hand trying to see what was inside.

He held his arm up, "Hey now! If you get down I'll show you!"

They backed up obediently as Mikaela watched them. The humans had made sort of armchair shapes out of some massive disused computer towers, the seats to which were bulky discarded laptops, boxes or wadded up blankets. She was already wearing some unknown person's thankfully clean fatigues- they all were. They looked like refugees.

It occurred to her that the Autobots, for all that they were massive warriors from space, really _were_ refugees. They wanted to call this place home. She'd been frightened of them at first, unsure what these things could want and convinced that it couldn't possibly be good. But watching Bee crawl out from the wreckage, stubbornly refusing to give up even after he'd had his feet blown off had changed her feelings. The look of pain and frustration on that almost completely un-human face had connected with her and she'd come to trust them. How much had she changed in the last few days? What was her daddy going to say when he came home to find his little girl all grown up? The thought made her shrink into herself and wrap her arms around her knees.

Bumblebee opened his fist to reveal the tiny sliver of what was left of the precious allspark. It wasn't much by their standards, but it was long to the humans. It looked to be a little less than 12 inches in length and staggered like a splinter. They marveled at it as Sam stepped a bit closer. He didn't see the length of pole that stuck out from one of Bumblebee's leg nubs. He reached for the closest thing to steady himself and slammed into Bee's arm.

The little shard went up into the air as time slowed for an instant. Maggie threw herself forward, trying to catch the piece and crashed into her nest of blankets, the shard smacked into her hands with an electric crackle, making her arm up to her elbow numb. The shard then bounced out of her unresponsive hands and flew through the air to land on one of the giant old laptops.

All five eyed the laptop, which wasn't moving, warily. When it didn't do anything, Bee wasn't sure if he was glad that nothing popped out of the laptop or if he was distressed that it didn't and that meant that it couldn't help Jazz. Mikaela snorted and bent down past the laptop to reach the shard, which was now about a foot past it, nestled in the blankets. She laid completely flat to reach the shard, too comfortable and tired to get up and walk over to it. As she was level to the laptop on the floor, she noticed that an eye had opened on it and was watching her.

With a cry of horror, she snatched the shard, clutched it to her and went clattering backwards. The startled laptop burst into life, splitting out in all directions, and then scrambling into the air. Its black wings beat frantically to get away from the cacophony that the _inhabitants_ of the room were making.

It flew around in a frightened circle, making hissing and clacking noises as Bee calmly sighted it and fired a low energy shot. He didn't want to use a full charge and risk hurting any of the humans if something fell. Without his legs he couldn't exactly scramble past them and take the brunt of any heavy pieces of ceiling falling. But he wasn't about to give the flying chattering laptop the chance to hurt anyone either.

\I heard fire, what's going on?\ Bee received the worried comm from Optimus.

\Uh... nothing. We're all fine... just a um, accidental discharge.\

\What's all that... squawking in there?\

\Nothing I can't handle,\ He hoped.

The shot managed to clip the wing of the weird robotic bird that had spawned. It spiraled down out of the air dramatically to lay in a disorganized looking sprawl on the ground. After a moment it righted itself and made panicked circles, trying desperately to get away from its attackers.

The humans, who were now hiding behind Bee, watched it warily. It stopped trying to fly after a moment, sort of half scuttling, half shuddering, trying to turn back into a laptop. Maggie popped out from behind Bee and began stalking toward the creature, cooing softly.

"Maggie!" hissed Glen, "What the _hell_ do you think you're doing?"

"No idea. But I don't think it wants to hurt us, it's just... scared." She continued to coo at the creature who had stopped trying to get away and had settled itself back out into a complete bird again.

Bumblebee rubbed at his horns in confusion. It was basically, as far as he understood anyway, a new born with no programming. It would attack anything that it thought was going to hurt it- or it should have. But here it was just trying to get away.

Mikaela had joined Maggie and both of them were on their hand and knees crawling toward the strange bird-like creature, trying not to startle it. Maggie reached out her hand to touch it, but it hissed angrily. She sat back quickly and it scuttled backwards as well, equally startled.

"No no no, it's okay! Don't be scared!" said Mikaela, trying to reassure it.

Its beady blue eyes snapped onto Mikaela. It hissed a little. "Huuuuuurt."

Bee shook his head, "Okay it definitely should not do that."

Mikaela looked back over her shoulder, "What do you mean?"

He shrugged, "As far as I know anything that comes out of the allspark raw like that shouldn't immediately be able to talk or reason. It doesn't have any programming. It should just be-"

"Freaking out and attacking like my phone did," said Glen absently. He didn't take his eyes away from the black and blue laptop bird.

"Exactly," rumbled a response from behind them. Ratchet had brought himself back on-line at the start of the commotion. He wasn't the sort to shoot first and ask questions later and was very glad that Ironhide, who was the sort of bot to do just that, was an extremely deep sleeper. "Something strange about this one."

Mikaela felt something tickle her arm and she turned around to see the laptop was now cowering behind her. In comparison to the Autobots he was tiny, about the size of a medium sized dog. She looked at it, "It's okay. They won't hurt you."

Ratchet started to get up. This of course, startled the bird creature into action. His instinct was to get to higher ground in order to jump off and glide, and Mikaela's shoulder was the highest point near to him. He took an ungainly hop and landed on her forearm. She yelped in pain as the sharp claws pierced the thick army coat that she was wearing and tore at her skin. The bird, realizing he was hurting her, leaped off and scuttled backwards. Ratchet was pretty fast when the occasion called for it and he managed to get around the startled humans and Bee to get to the bird. He grabbed a thick metal crate and snapped it down on top of the bird-creature. He then grabbed a larger, much heavier crate and put it on top, effectively pinning the laptop.

Maggie and Sam ran to Mikaela's aide, trying to get the jacket off and stop the bleeding as she clutched at her arm. The medic grabbed the discarded jacket and expertly ripped it into long shreds. He then gently took her bleeding arm in his giant hand. With deft movements he delicately and quickly wrapped the arm with just enough pressure to staunch the bleeding and not cut off circulation entirely. He winked at the girl, "Just because I'm a bulky bot doesn't mean I haven't got nimble fingers. My scan indicates it's not deep enough to need stitches, just a nasty cut, it's a good thing these jackets are so thick. Hold it up and keep pressure on it for a little while."

Sam kicked at the crate with his foot, succeeding only in sending pain up his appendage. He hopped away while Bee leveled his gun at the offending creature.

"No don't!" Mikaela called, "He didn't mean to."

The forlorn creature inside moaned, "Sorry! Sorry! Me not mean to!"

"What in blazes is going on here?"

"Uh..." guilty gazes watched as Keller and Optimus returned from the other hanger.

"Well, the good news is the shard will work, and we only took minor damage," replied Ratchet.

Optimus leveled a look at his medic but addressed Keller instead, "I will deal with this, you had best continue on your way."

The Secretary of Defense nodded with a look of disbelief, "Very well. Glen, Maggie, let's head out."

"Now?"

"But-" the two chimed together.

"Come on, you're still my advisors and I'm going to need your help analyzing the virus that brought down the satellites. I've gotten a call that they need us back in Washington, ASAP. You can come back and visit when we're all done," He turned again to the leader of the Autobots and nodded, gave one last look at the suspicious box and continued out the door, practically dragging the two analysts away.

Optimus crouched next to the make shift kennel. "And exactly what is in here?"

"Something the allspark shard made."

"I ran into Bee and he dropped it, "said Sam sheepishly. He felt a lot like the times when he'd had to admit to his father that he'd done something incredibly stupid.

"I see."

Ratchet looked at the laptop, who was sticking his beak through one of openings in the box that served as a handle. "It hasn't tried to attack us or even shown any sort of weapons. It only cut Mikaela because I frightened it when I was getting up off the ground."

"Am sorrrry..." it said again.

Its speech startled Prime. At this point in its "life" it shouldn't be able to do much other than react to basic fight or flight parameters. The fact that it was talking, albeit in broken sentences, spoke volumes. Tentatively he tried to send a comm in Cybertronian. \Who are you?\

\??????\ was the reply.

Ratchet tried and got the same response. "It... doesn't know our language."

Mikaela tried to blow her bangs away from her face, "Maybe it only knows english because it's a laptop. "

They stared at her.

"No, think about it. Its hard drive is probably full of old files these guys have saved."

"Yeah, maybe its name is it's network name?" Sam offered.

There was a fluttering sound as the laptop beat its wings against it's prison. "YES! Me am... Me am... Me am Southwest Operating System #392!"

"That's kind of a mouthful to say," said Sam, shaking his head, "How about we shorten it to like, SOS or Ninety-two? Maybe just WEST, yeah that'd be kinda cool," He offered a hand out to the nose cheekily, "Hey, West, how's it hanging?"

The metallic beak pulled itself back into the crate with disgust.

"How about Swoop?" asked Mikaela quietly.

"Swooooooop. Me like. Me Swooooooop." said the beak, emerging from its kennel.

Sam gave her a blank look. Mikaela sighed, "It's an acronym, I mean it's sort of hacked up but SouthWest O(o)Perating Station #392."

The others nodded thoughtfully. Sam crossed his arms and looked grumpy, "I still like West better."

--------

Even though his internal chronometer said that the sun should be rising now, it was still dark inside the Sector 7 Dam's base. The hanger, which was normally filled with activity, was silent and dark in respect for the four giant robots and their human friends who slept inside. The rest of the base and the dam was being checked for damages and repaired as quickly as possible. The mess inside left from Megatron's abrupt departure and Frenzy's crazed antics could wait a day or so until the outside and more structurally integral parts of the dam were repaired.

\So how did your talk with the human, Keller, go?\ Ironhide's optics lit up as he came back on-line. In a rare show of thoughtfulness he refrained from speaking aloud and waking the still sleeping children. Sam had insisted on staying with Bumblebee and Mikaela had insisted on staying with Sam. The two were bundled together in the yellow camero's shadow, still deeply asleep.

\We will be allowed to stay and make our home here.\ Prime eyed his old friend carefully and tried to gauge the response coming. Ironhide was rarely sentimental, even about Cybertron. He'd spent most of his life fighting and of the rag tag band he was the only one that was a professional soldier. But he had voiced his disgust with the humans before, how would he feel about making this his permanent home?

To Prime's surprise, Ironhide nodded, \Good. This is... an acceptable planet. More hospitable than many we have been to and with a better caliber of natives than we're used to.\

Optimus wisely kept his thoughts to himself and continued on, \I have researched the area near Sam's home and found a place which might be suitable for us. It is... an abandoned steel mill.\

Ratchet raised his head from his hand where he'd been sleeping propped against the cage holding the laptop creature, coming fully on-line. The crate that had been previously on top had proved too wobbly, and while the creature didn't seem quite as adamant about getting away, no one wanted to chance having to search the whole enclosure for it. He listened to the conversation raptly.

The black mech snorted, \Ah, so it's a junk pile without the useful parts?\

\I have to agree, do we really want to live somewhere the humans have even abandoned?\ Ratchet didn't like the idea of trying to make a home out of such a place. Thoughts of half degraded chemicals, rotten cardboard boxes, mildewed files, and vermin filled his mind.

\It's not ideal in any sense of the word, but it is what is out there. We can always look around and see if there's something else that could be used, but I'm afraid the very nature of being what we are and who we are means that we have very little choice in where we stay.\

\True enough. We do sort of stick out I suppose,\ Ironhide chuckled.

\So, how long before we start a welcome home party?\ Bumblebee chimed in hopefully.

\I'd like us to spend a few days here recuperating before we make the trek there. Ideally I'd like Bumblebee functional or at least movable before we head out.\ There were six out buildings, each of them spacious and providing cover. If Optimus's long term plans panned out he wanted to be sure there was enough room for them all. \Only one building is habitable by humans, the rest have some dangerous chemical build up that will have to be cleared out in order for Sam or Mikaela to visit us.\

\One building? Are there more than one?\ Bumblebee's optics went round. He wasn't a scout for nothing. When not preoccupied with avoiding Decepticons, his favorite activity was to indulge his curiosity and explore the planets they visited. Had it not been for the war, Prime was sure that his friend would have become a well traveled explorer or scientist. Bumblebee took great pleasure in learning about new worlds and different cultures. Even though the majority of worlds they had visited were less than accommodating and sometimes actively aggressive, he always found time to marvel over its individual features and mourn the fact that he could not fully examine them.

\There are six buildings that still stand, roughly half of what was once there. They housed the human's facilities for fabricating the steel and the storage of it. The buildings are large enough for us to stand upright comfortably and enough cover for us no matter the time of day.\ Optimus paused, watching Bee's excitement build. He rolled his optics at the younger mech, \You can explore at your leisure, provided you have any time for leisure. We're going to have our work cut out for us making it habitable even for us. Not to mention secure against Decepticons and the occasional curious human.\

\And the Ark?\

\Ah,\ Optimus stumbled in his speech, _how to proceed?_ \I was planning on having it land and hide on one of this system's planets, in case we needed it again… After I send a beacon.\

A chorus of surprised comms slammed into his receptors at once. Inwardly, Prime flinched. He had been expecting such a reaction. He waited until they were done voicing various protests or cautions about such action and then spoke, \Too long have we wandered. This is our home now and it is open to any other of our wayward Autobot brethren.\

\But... But the humans, the danger to them!\ sputtered Bumblebee.

\Starscream.\ stated Ironhide darkly.

\I know.\ Prime sighed and prepared to explain his full opinions on the situation, \There's a chance that with Megatron gone, Starscream will simply return to claim his place as Decepticon leader. It could take hundreds of human years for him to claim this title, depending on how many he must fight for it. Starscream may have been one of Megatron's Lieutenants, but he was not the only one. All that kept the other 'cons following him this entire time is that the majority of them believed that Megatron would return. Now that he is not...\

Ratchet chuckled, \He may go back to find them ready to pluck his wings off and toss him for scrap.\

\If Shockwave is still out there, you can bet on it,\ Bumblebee shuddered at the name of one of the most dreaded Decepticons still alive. He feared Shockwave almost as much as he feared Megatron. Starscream was powerful and cunning, but he was prone to fits of jealousy and delusions of grandeur. It tended to keep him busy juggling compliments and beatings so that he stayed in a position of absolute fear and respect. Shockwave, on the other hand, ran solely on logic. While all the denizens of Cybertron came on-line with basic programming and then developed from there, there were many that chose to develop just their logic. The Autobots had several such bots, including Prowl, one of Prime's lieutenants and leader of another team searching for the allspark. But while the sleek bot had chosen to continuously upgrade his logic, his emotional contents did not suffer without upgrade as well. He still felt emotion the same as any other bot but his logic was definitely the dominant side of his personality.

Shockwave did not have this balance. It was rumored that he had actually removed those parts of him that made his emotions possible. Even Soundwave, one of the other extremely logic driven Decepticons, still had emotions. He collected and seemingly protected the smaller bots to his own ends and had been known to, on rare occasion, lose his temper with them or other 'cons. Shockwave had never lost his temper. Instead he had simply destroyed any who did not follow his orders if he felt that was the best logical path.

Bumblebee gazed down at his new friends. While both had shown an incredible amount of bravery, he was still painfully aware of their kind's fragility. They didn't have armor so thick that a simple shot from a Decepticon gun, even at long range, wouldn't completely obliterate them. The guns that could actually damage the cons were in the hands of only the military, not the average person. How could they protect themselves if the Decepticons decided to follow the beacon to earth? Prime could feel the mech's despair, \Sending out a beacon to the other Autobots will not change the Decepticon's decision to come back for us. Starscream knows where we are, the Nemesis has the location in its nav-com. We must operate on vigilance and the idea that they will return someday.\

\But the temptation of the shard and of us being here?\ begged Bumblebee. He wanted to stay with Sam, but not at the risk of this planet. He didn't want to see the 'cons destroy another world.

Ironhide turned a sharp look at the camero, \Would you rather them come anyway and it be just us here? Or would your rather have them come and find the world bristling with Autobots ready to meet them head on? And maybe have a little peace and quiet in the meantime?\

Bumblebee looked at the weapon's expert. Ironhide was right. This world was in danger from the moment the allspark had crashed into it. With their incredibly long lifetimes it was inevitable that the Cybertronian searchers would eventually find their way to this tiny, backwards, young planet and its inhabitants. The humans stood a much better chance if the Autobots were here to help look after it, even if they did it from behind the scenes.

\Tonight I will climb to the top of the dam and send the message to the Ark myself\ Perhaps it was premature, but Prime wanted to get the beacon off as soon as possible. There were things that he could be patient for, but this was not one of them. If he didn't need to be in his robot mode to be able to send the clearest message to the Ark, he would have raced up to the top of the peaks to do it now in broad daylight. After four million years he could all the Autobots to return to a home where they could live together again. Four million years is a long time to go without seeing your friends and family, even for a sentient robot.

**Chapter 3**

The bin was not quiet. The workers were coming and going like clockwork, throwing damaged parts into the giant metal trailer for disposal. No one noticed that one of those parts was a double and that it began to squirm and move toward the top of the trailer every time no one was looking.

Twice in as many days Frenzy had received the pleasure of having his head separated from his body. Once by a wild human girl and a miniature chainsaw and once by his own fragging disks. The disk had cut right through his head, destroying much of it, but his spark was, amazingly, still intact. Of all the Decepticons that had left with Starscream, Frenzy had the highest repair skill. He was often able to take parts from other dead 'cons and repair himself with them, not having to wait for a proper medic or his own intrinsic regenerative properties to kick in. It wasn't like there were many Decepticon medics to begin with. By their very nature the Decepticons did _not_ look after each other.

With effort he drug himself out of the bin and onto the ground, transforming into the last thing he'd scanned, the human girl's phone. He felt silly, laying here in a military base as a phone covered in rhinestone hearts, but there wasn't anything small enough to scan around that someone would not just throw back in the bin.

Frenzy's patience won out as one of the workers picked up the phone on his way back to the dam.

He brandished it to his fellows, asking if they knew who's it was. After some deliberating, one of them promised to return it to the building's lost and found, thinking that somehow someone had dropped it and it'd gotten thrown away. The man went to the building, watched the other workers, then darted over to his car, throwing the cellphone in. It was brand new. If some silly teenager was going to just drop it somewhere, she obviously wasn't ready for the responsibility of having it. The man at the pawn shop that he knew might be able to find someone who would appreciate a nice phone more. He knew that he would appreciate whatever money he could get for the phone, rhinestones and all.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4.**

"So we're going back, but you all are staying here?" Sam fretted. When he'd first met Bumblebee, even after seeing him fight with Barricade, he had thought the mech was invincible. But with his friend being so seriously injured, he found that he worried after the twenty foot mech as much as he did the time Miles broke his arm trying to use a skate park without a skate board.

"I'll be fine, Sam. Ratchet is going to put me back together in the time we have here. He needs to fabricate new knee joints, and they do have some good facilities for doing that right here. I'll be uh, back on feet soon?" He cringed at the pun.

"But I'm going to have to ride my bike to school in the meantime, " sighed Sam dejected.

Bee rolled his eyes, "Oh yeah. Big sacrifice there. Thanks for thinking of me."

Mikaela put her arm around Sam's waist, "Aww, there, there. You can ride on the back of my scooter when it's fixed."

One of the soldiers indicated that it was time. The Special Forces team was being dropped off at the nearest airport, to be sent on different flights to their homes. They had been cleared for leave by the SECDEF on the condition that they would report back at any time they were summoned. Lennox, who's family was living near their home base not quite four hours away, was being driven back by Ironhide under the excuse that the grumpy black truck didn't like spending time in the hanger. Lennox was just as thankful, since being in the air again just didn't seem like an appealing idea at the moment. He was also curious to know Ironhide better on the terms that they were both soldiers.

Sam stood staring at Bumblebee, tears welling in his eyes. He knew he'd see the little mech again soon, but he couldn't help but feel a bit overwhelmed by the friendship the bot had showed him. To someone who always found himself at the bottom of the social food chain, finding a good friend you connected with was an end to itself. He felt Mikaela give him a gentle shove and he stumbled toward the bot and settled on wrapping his arms around Bee's neck. The bright blue optics flared and he awkwardly patted Sam on the back.

"Bye, Bee. Take care, okay?" The last of the farewell made his voice squeak and crack embarrassingly.

Mikaela leaned over from the other side and hugged Bee as well, ending the embrace with a peck on the side of his head, "We'll see you soon."

"Awww..." said Ratchet teasingly.

"Hey , no flirting with my car, " Said Sam.

The pretty girl shook her head and took him by the arm, "Ready to go?"

Sam took one last look at the remaining Autobots and bid them farewell. The sooner he left the sooner they could get to work and the sooner he could see them again.

Optimus found that waiting with nothing to do on earth was a lot harder than sitting in the ark with nothing to do. In the ark there were stations to monitor, flight plans to adjust, data to analyze, or banter to have with his colleagues. The communications and entertainment that humans constantly sent across the airwaves held little interest for him at the moment. There was plenty to learn, but his mind was preoccupied with thoughts of seeing his fellow Autobots again. Ratchet was busy, trying to bang all the dents out of the twisted mess that was left of Bumblebee's legs and start putting in the freshly fabricated knee joints. Bumblebee was shut down for the duration so what healing his body could do on it's own would be unhindered.

"Any word from Ironhide?" the big blue and red mech adjusted the fins on his head for the tenth time.

Ratchet shrugged, "Only that he said he was taking 'the scenic route' back and that he had encountered traffic."

"Ah," Ratchet went back to his work without another word, the distraction only holding his attention for a moment. When the medic was trying to fix someone, little could deter him from it.

As potential companions that left Optimus either the humans of sector seven or Swoop. Swoop was much calmer today and was no longer in the crate, instead he was intently watching Ratchet work on Bumblebee.

"Why a bird?" Optimus wandered out loud.

"Hm?" Ratchet paused in his welding. The major dents were out, and the rest could wait until Bumblebee was back in one piece. Thankfully only the major knee joints needed to be fabricated; the rest was a matter of welding things back together. Ratchet had given the plans to a group of remaining scientists to fix up while he continued to get the legs ready for reattachment. The damage had looked far worse than it was, in the end more inconvenient than life threatening.

"Why did Swoop choose a flying form instead of a robot form?"

"Laptop no have feet," Swoop replied as if he were speaking to a very dull bot. It seemed obvious to him, how could Prime not understand?

Optimus gave him a look, "No, they do not... however, a robot form does, it also has hands to manipulate the world around it."

Swoop shuffled, looking at his small clawed feet, "Me Swoop want to fly. Me see sky, here," he clanged his wing against his chest, "But not here," he smacked himself in the face awkwardly.

Ratchet leaned nonchalantly against Bee's upside down half finished legs. "I think I understand. There were pictures of the world on his hard drive when he was brought on-line. Apparently a winged form instead of a bi-pedal form seemed the best way to sight see for him. Eventually he may change his mind and drop a form, but not until he learns to scan new ones."

"Interesting," It did make sense when you thought about it. Prime wasn't sure how he would feel about not having a robot form. His bipedal robot form was how he was created, it was his original form. It had been forced to change now that he used an earth semi for an alt form, but it wasn't something that hadn't happened before.

The minutes dragged on. Optimus began to tap out a beat on the concrete of the floor absentmindedly. This went on for about five minutes before he heard Ratchet clear his throat, "I have never seen you this distracted. Not since you were very very young at any rate."

The huge bot grinned apologetically, "I have not been this eager to do something in four million years."

Ratchet sighed and looked at the ceiling, seeing the maps of the stars somewhere beyond it. Four million years was a very long time even for them. Somewhere out there was the rest of their brothers in arms. He could understand his friend's impatience. "I wonder if it's dark enough yet to go out?"

"Me Swoop find out!" Before either of them could grab him, the little bot was into the air and out of the hanger.

"I am beginning to wonder if fixing his wing was a good idea, Ratchet." said Prime, resting his head on his hand as Ratchet shrugged in response. He could go tearing off after the bot, but the doors here were just large enough and had just enough wires hanging down that it wasn't advisable for a mech as big as him to do so.

"Me Swoop say it dark." Swoop was back quickly. To his credit he had not tried to leave the Dam base, but had made it as close to the front and the few skylights that the underground base had. He sent an image of beautiful starry night, a few stray streaks of sunset still drawing out.

_Finally._ Optimus stood up and stretched the kinks out of the still healing injuries. Parts of him were stiff with fatigue but would hold up to the leisurely pace he planned for.

"Me Swoop go with you?" the little bot bird flexed his wings hopefully.

Optimus considered. While the bird seemed to get overly excited and was extremely young, he did seem to have his priorities straight and had obeyed the simple orders that Prime had given him. "Yes, so long as you promise to stay with me and not stray."

"Me Swoop promise!" The bird shot off into the hanger once more, making his way to the front.

Optimus again wondered if this was a good decision or if he had just set himself up for a fiasco.

--------

The pawn shop owner hadn't had Frenzy in the store for more than a few minutes before the tiny bot was out the door. He'd managed to hitch a ride all the way back to the city, desperately scanning for Decepticon activity. Scorponoc had not returned with Blackout, there was no telling where the strange insectoid Decepticon was. He was a strange one even by Decepticon standards, especially in the symbiotic relationship that he had with the helicopter. There was no telling what the vicious mech would do when it found out that it's partner was destroyed and languishing somewhere deep in the ocean.

Frenzy had taken the time to hack into the human's computer systems and do a check for information on the battle now that the world communications were up again. The humans had managed to contact their satellites much faster than Frenzy had thought to give them credit for. He had to admit that the humans were a bit fascinating in their ability to adapt- especially for such a young species. The humans had managed to integrate both their native biological systems, as well as utilizing non-biological computer systems and machines to improve their lives. In many cases they had created cyborg technology meshing the two together. Up until recently it had been very rudimentary, but it was growing by leaps and bounds each day. Frenzy speculated that if the humans continued on this path there may well be human cyborg creatures running around at some point. The thought disgusted him.

It took him almost the entire night, but he finally made it out to the city dump where he found the remains of a familiar black and white car. He hesitated to call Barricade his "partner" in the same context as Blackout and Scorponoc. With the helicopter and insectoid, the relationship was much more permanent. Frenzy, on the other hand, was only working with Barricade under the admonitions of his own symbiotic partner, Soundwave. Unlike with Barricade or Blackout, Soundwave's symbionts numbered in at least five. This was the longest he'd been away from Soundwave since he'd first crawled out as a raw protoform. One of Soundwave's other symbionts was his brother, Rumble. As much as he hated to admit it, he missed his brother and Soundwave. Decepticons weren't completely without emotional responses.

Frenzy had been sent as a spy for the larger mech, who was loyal only to Megatron, in order to keep tabs on Starscream. The cover story was that he was one of the best hackers outside of Soundwave himself, who was leading another team looking for Megatron and the Allspark. Barricade had agreed to watch Frenzy's back as a favor owed to Soundwave. Frenzy wasn't sure what sort of dirt that Soundwave had on the police car, but it had to be big in order for him to allow the tiny mech to get so close.

That respect for Soundwave's orders was what brought Frenzy to this particular junkyard now. He shook his head, looking at Barricade's sleeping shell. While the bigger mech was out of commission, it was his duty to make sure the humans didn't scrap him. He wasn't sure he cared personally if Barricade got scrapped, but Soundwave seemed to want him kept around if at all possible. Besides, even with the number of kills that Frenzy had to his name he wasn't sure that he liked the idea of being stranded on a planet full of fleshies and Autobots by himself. He wrapped himself up into his alt form and went into a low level recharge to wait for Barricade to heal himself.


	5. Chapter 5

_Author's note: I realized that this was really hard to read with the way I'd been uploading it... so I made a bunch of tweaks so it wasn't so headache inducing. XD sorry for anyone that's confused! I'm updating World of Steam in compensation. SORRY! _

**Chapter 5.**

The night was crisp and cool. The day here was so hot, even though they were well into September, but the night was so cold. Optimus was amazed by the plethora of life on this planet. Even in the more barren parts of the world that the humans still managed to make homes there. He didn't pass many vehicles on his way to his destination. Periodically Swoop would send back to him aerial views of the entire area, taking his breath away. This was a beautiful planet, even in its most desolate spots.

Optimus finished the climb to the top of the mountains in his robot form, assured by Swoop that there wasn't a human anywhere for fifty miles or so. When he reached the summit, he sat and stared out into the night, feeling peaceful for the first time in so long. The Autobots were not soldiers by nature, not most of them anyway. They had become so to defend their home. He had watched many of the gentlest bots he'd known become berserk warriors, tormented by war. It had made his spark ache everytime he had seen them go down, knowing that without the allspark that they would never again live.

Without the allspark, where would their sparks go when they were extinguished? Some of the humans believed that their own souls went to a place of beauty and peace that existed beyond this world. Was there such a place for sparks also? He'd always heard that the allspark was where their sparks resided, but now it was gone. There had been a legend about another relic, the matrix, which was said to hold all Autobot sparks. Much in the same way the allspark had been launched from Cybertron to protect it from the Decepticons, the matrix had been purposefully lost in order to hide it from those who would not use it for good. Perhaps sparks would go there now.

Swoop gently cascaded down to his leader's side, perched happily on an outcropping. He tucked his wings and watched the sky gratefully. The beauty of this world, _his_ world, was completely awe inspiring to him. The curve of the earth, the chill of the winds, the gentle chatter of the human's broadcasting and communications channels, it all intoxicated him. Pathways in his cerebral net formed as it imprinted the idea of home in his mind. He was less advanced than a standard Cybertronian protoform, not having been pre-programmed with the greater memory of Vector Sigma, the ancient super computer that held all the history of its world. The mountains and valleys of Cybertron would always be stories to him, even when or if he received memories donated by his fellow Autobots. It was Earth that would be home to him.

Watching the young Autobot filled Prime with much needed hope. There was a part of Optimus that made him wonder if he'd made the right decisions. Perhaps he should have destroyed the allspark to begin with, back on Cybertron, but at the time it had seemed like blasphemy. It wasn't until he'd seen the destruction that the Decepticons had waged on other worlds that he decided that it had to end somehow. They always seemed to arrive in the wake of destruction that had laid waste to whole planets, using up the energy sources and then leaving. Sentient life forms were rare in the universe, and the 'cons had exterminated at least two entire races that Optimus knew of. Both of those races were not quite as advanced as the humans were, but they were much larger and sturdy than the inhabitants of earth. His hand crushed a rock beneath him in frustration. Many times he had found the remains of Autobots and friends on those lifeless planets. The worst find had been one lone Autobot who had allowed his own spark to die. He hadn't had a mark on him and was young, but his spark was extinguished. Prime could only speculate that it was sheer loneliness that had caused him to end his own spark.

Without another thought, he released the signal into the stars, using the Autobot ship as a reflector to distribute the signal deep into space and the receptors of anyone listening, "I am Optimus Prime, and I send this message to any surviving Autobots taking refuge among the stars..."


	6. Chapter 6

_**Not a long chapter, I apologize. I really like to keep where I'm writing far ahead of where I'm posting so I have room for edits. I don't like going back and editing after I've posted, you know? XD I originally had NO idea where this story was going, but I think I actually have a GASP.. PLOT now. Omg. So I may be updating this fic more than the other... which I'm stuck on at the moment. :3 **_

**Chapter 6.**

\Bumblebee, slow down before you get pulled over!\ snarled Ironhide as he struggled to keep up with the camaro.

Bee ignored him and sped further down the interstate. The road was warm and smooth beneath his thick earth tires, urging him onward. When Starscream's attack had taken off his lower legs, he had been terrified that the wounds might take as long to heal as his voice had. Thankfully, Ratchet was able to get him patched up after a few days of hard work. Now he was back on the way to Tranquility and his friends.

Optimus mentally shook his head, watching the yellow scout streak down the road, \He's going to get pulled over,\ said the semi, carefully changing lanes. After watching how some of the human semi-drivers ran their vehicles, Optimus made sure he was extra careful to pass other motorists. The spooked, nervous faces of the drivers made him want to stop even _trying_ to pass, except that would put him several miles behind the other Autobots. Of all his abilities, speed was not one of them. He didn't mind playing rear guard, it being the most dangerous position to cover, but he would be a useless guard if he was out of range of his fighters. Not that he expected a fight here and now, but it paid to be cautious.

Swoop had his head pressed against the window, staring at the cars. Optimus was glad that his windows were tinted. Still, anyone driving by and looking closely would notice the driver had a weird metal bird sticking straight through them. He hadn't wanted Swoop to fly the entire way back, afraid the little creature would get lost, or worse bored. It was a long trip for driving, but not for flying. If Swoop got to the steel mill before the others he might forget that he was supposed to wait and wander off by himself. \Sit down, Swoop. We're nearly there.\

He could feel the metal bird's tiny back feet track their way across the seats impatiently. It was a frustrating sensation. Swoop's claws weren't painful, but they tickled something awful. The exit for Tranquility industrial park couldn't come soon enough.

Someone honked as an impressive looking yellow sports car cut them off to get to an off ramp. Bee had been so intent on his speed rush that he had almost missed the exit! Unlike Prime and the others, he was taking a detour to pick up Sam and Mikaela. He paused at the top of the ramp, watching the others speed past. His cylinders slowly cooled as he tried to stop his spark from racing. The highway speeds were no where near what he could open it up to on his home planet, but going back to the slower highways and city streets was hard. As another driver honked behind him, he ambled off towards Tranquility.

The familiar streets passed by his windows slowly. It seemed like ages since he'd seen it's manicured lawns and sleepy population. He nervously pulled up at traffic lights, self conscious about the stares he was getting from almost every single person on the street. Doubt at to the wisdom of his form was starting to set in. The new camaro may have been flashy and impressive, but it was no longer fulfilling the role of "blending in." Bumblebee sighed and ducked down an alley. He hated to do this to Sam, or to himself for that matter, but there was no way that the ultra modern sports car would go unnoticed in the area they'd chosen as their new base of operations. With a shudder he reverted back to a '75 camaro. The dings and rust were gone and his interior spotless, cleaning up the car was the least he could do in compensation.

------

Sam stood on his steps nervously, waiting for Bee to arrive. His father was not happy about the story Sam had told him. Ever since childhood, Sam had never been able to lie to his parents, and this was no exception. His parents were distressed at their only child being exposed to the dangers he had seen, but at the same time they were exceedingly proud of their son who had effectively just saved the planet. If Mikaela hadn't backed up his story, Sam wasn't sure they would have believed it, their home being invaded by a secret government agency or no. They had agreed to allow him to continue hanging around with the aliens, so long as no more harm came his way. With Megatron and the Decepticons effectively defeated Sam couldn't imagine he'd be in too much trouble with the bots around.

"I tell you, son, there is no way I am going to pay for the insurance cost of that car. A '75 I can manage, but an '07? For a teenager? No," grumped Ron Witwicky from where he sat on the porch. "You're just going to have to get a job."

Sam rushed up the steps, "What? What about your promise? You said that so long as I was getting decent grades that I wouldn't have to get a job... and didn't I get good grades?"

His dad rubbed his eyes, "Yes... but this is a different circumstance. Do you have any idea how much this is going to cost?"

"Oh Ron, give it a rest," Sam's mother rolled her eyes. She had been busy for the past three days trying to replant all of her rose bushes. Ron had hired someone to fix his path, gnashing his teeth the entire time. Sam still hadn't told them the truth about the fate of their fountain. So long as they didn't ask, Sam wasn't telling.

Mikaela braided and un-braided a section of her hair nervously. She had opted not to tell her mother about her little adventure with giant alien robots. Her mother hadn't been abducted and interrogated like Sam's parents, she could stay in the dark a little longer. All her mother was concerned about was her disappearance, but not so much that she grounded her daughter. Between the two jobs she was holding she just had to trust that her offspring knew what she was doing.

A familiar rumbling sound reverberated down the street as a yellow sports car pulled up outside the Witwicky house. Sam's jaw dropped, but his father was secretly pleased as he went down to inspect the car, "Well, this isn't bad at all. Looks really good. Nice job," he thumped his hand on the hood appreciatively. Bee beeped back in reply.

"W-w-what's this? Bee! What happened!? Ratchet fixes you and you turn back into..." He didn't want to insult his friend again by calling him a piece of crap car, but what happened to the beautiful camaro of his dreams?

Judy smiled, walking over with the tiny dog in her arms, "Aw now see, Sammy? Everything works out in the end," she put her arm around her speechless son.

Mikaela smiled, "Looks good Bee, nice restoration job."

"Alright, Mr. Sports-car, you take care of my son," said Judy, looking down at the car severely. There was no denying the thing had it's own personality. She'd heard about it's antics when Sam had first bought the car, as well as heard it playing music to itself the few days it had been with them before the whole weekend fiasco. In a way she felt a little motherly toward it as well.

"Aw geez, Mom, don't lecture the car!" Sam rolled his eyes and scrambled to get behind the wheelMikaela eased into the passenger seat, petting the posh leather interior.

"Back at eleven you two, er three," said Sam's father, leaning in to look down at them.

"Bye Dad," Sam replied testily, rolling the window up to shut out his parents. He stared at the wheel and addressed the symbol emblazoned across it, "So... Are you driving or am I?"


	7. Chapter 7

This chapter is probably a little bit cracky and silly. But it was really fun. X3

**Chapter 7**

The steel yard was largely abandoned. It had passed through the hands of several different companies in the past 20 years, each had it's own idea of how to rebuild or fix the buildings into some new industrial complex but in the end each owner had realized that it was a fruitless gesture. Originally built in the 1940's, many of the building's electrical systems were no longer up to code, as well as at least one building being a firetrap. This was further proved when a local methlab had set up camp inside it and managed to catch it on fire. Three of the meth makers were killed in the blaze before the fire department was able to get there.

After the fire the owners of the company went through and put up a newer fence with razor wire, keeping out most of the vagrants. Newer and more interesting abandoned buildings were ready for the taking across town and most of the teenagers, meth users and the few homeless had moved to those buildings. Or, Ironhide mused, it could have been the lack of anything else here to break that drove the crowds away. Almost every window was shattered beyond repair and most surfaces were coated with varying degrees of bad graffiti.

Ironhide turned his head to read one of the epitaphs written on the wall of the largest building. It had once housed the finished steel and contained enough open space to accommodate more than just the five of them when clean. "I don't understand this art form at all... What do these symbols mean?"

Ironhide's reading was interrupted by Sam and Mikaela walking in, both of them sporting respirator masks. With the age of the building and the refuse inside it, Sam's mother had insisted they both wear them- just in case Sam's allergies acted up. At least allergies were a good excuse for having a tear in his eye, he thought. It had been less than a week since the battle of Mission City, but that had been more than long enough to make him feel lonely for the quirky robots.

Optimus bent down to greet them, "Sam, Mikaela, it is good to see you again."

"It's good to see you too," Sam smiled as he looked around, "Wow, this place is amazing."

"It's going to be a lot of work to get it livable," said Mikaela, looking at the years of garbage covering the floors. She poked at a pile of refuse with her foot uncertainly.

"Yes, we must get started right away, thank you for agreeing to help." Optimus straightened up, looking at his troops. They wouldn't be able to set up security around the perimeter until after dark. He would send out Ratchet and Ironhide to do that, in the meantime they needed to get things cleaned enough to unpack Jazz and get a medical bay set up. There were hoists and some tools at one end of the building, more tools could be found in another building where the steel mill's repair and electrical shop had been. "Ratchet, go find something we can use to sweep up the mess in here. Ironhide, I want you to help me move all the leftover girders to the back of the warehouse. Bumblebee, you, Sam, and Mikaela go and start cleaning up the south side of the building. Make a pile of tools that might be useful and pile of things to throw out."

"We're on it!" shouted Sam, running down the length of the building. Had anyone else asked him to clean, he'd have complained and dragged his feet. There was something about being asked to clean by the leader of an alien race that made it somehow worth it.

"What me Swoop do?" asked the bird anxiously.

"I want you to fly a perimeter around the buildings every half hour and double check that there are no humans near us. Send us a message if you find anyone. I want everyone running periodic checks for that, got it?" the others muttered in reply, not exceptionally worried. It was Saturday, most of the factories and businesses out here were closed. It was a slim chance they'd run into anyone today while there was still light out.

The pile of garbage was knee deep to the humans. Mikaela wasn't sure exactly what they were going to be able to do to help, a lot of the parts were heavy and dangerous looking. The least she could do however, was identify what she recognized and decide if it was useful or not.

There was a noisy clanking as the two largest bots started shuffling around the old girders. Bee picked up a few of the smaller pipes and parts, tossing things out the door into a pile. Sam ducked, "Whoa! Bee, watch where you're throwing things!"

"Huh? Oh sorry," said the bot bashfully, "I forgot." He looked at his friend thoughtfully. With the masks on they looked like Autobots themselves, the filters on the respirators reminded Bee of his friend Wheeljack. _Wouldn't 'Jack love this world? All the strange inventions the humans have come up with are straight up his alley._

"Wait! Ironhide! This... isn't stable! Put it down, put it down!" Prime's voice could be heard rattling through the building as Ironhide dropped a huge part of some kind of turbine. The top came off and rolled to a stop in front of Optimus's leg.

"Sorry, Prime," shrugged Ironhide.

"Let's try this again... slowly."

Mikaela smiled to herself as she moved out boxes of soggy old paperwork. She wrinkled her nose as tiny grubs and beetles scuttled out from under them. As a child she used to delight in discovering the strange worlds beneath the old damp logs in the yard, it still fascinated her. The next box looked wetter than the rest but she didn't notice; her thoughts on the past. As she hauled it up the whole bottom came out of it and wet rotten paper s slid everywhere, "Oh great, just great." Irritated with herself, she grabbed an old broom and shoved the papers out the door into the pile to be thrown away.

As she swept, one paper surfaced with a water mark from a company she didn't recognize. Her eye caught the word "contaminate" on the stained dirty page. Most of the ink had been washed away but the letter head was for a company called "Masterwork Industries". What she could make out of the paper said something about chemicals and contaminates that needed to be cleaned. Worried, she pinned the paper on the wall to dry it out, maybe later one of the bots could figure out what it meant.

------

Mikaela sat alone, waiting for Sam and Bee to return with dinner. She rested against the wall of the building, watching Ratchet fiddle with the television he'd found. "You might want to wait till the walls are completely clean before you lean up against there."

She smiled up at him lazily, pushing the respirator off her neck. The Autobot medic had deemed the building clean enough now for the humans to breath easily. "It's okay, I'll live. Although I think this shirt is going to become a rag after this. Are you guys going to wash the floor down or just leave it?"

"If I can figure out a way to get the water from the river up here, we'll wash it down," said Ratchet. There was no running water or electricity in any of the buildings, the utilities long since shut down.

Ironhide laughed gruffly, leaning against the giant branch he'd been using to sweep out the interior of the building, "Perhaps we should just ask Bumblebee to lubricate it?"

"Do _not_ encourage him," said Optimus walking over to sit with the others. Ratchet had a dim light on, illuminating just the circle of bots and Mikaela. There were sky lights in the ceiling, but they were now just empty holes through which the stars would soon be seen. It was a peaceful warm sunset, the earth fauna singing a chorus outside.

Something nagged at Mikaela's thoughts and she remembered the strange words on the paper. Retrieving it from the wall she handed it to Ratchet, "I found this earlier... I don't know what it means, but it sort of worried me."

Ratchet peered at the tiny paper suspiciously, trying to make out what the water had washed away, "Masterworks Industries was one of the title holders of this land for a time, but from what information I found, they never fully moved in. The data I've collected from my sensors assures me that you and Sam are safe here, but as for the other buildings... I'm not sure yet."

Mikaela nodded, only slightly reassured, "Just makes me a little concerned is all, thanks."

Bee and Sam walked in and interrupted the conversation Sam carefully balanced pizza, sodas, and a little extra piled in his arms . He had felt a little guilty that he hadn't anything to offer his friends in terms of a treat. He already knew that Mikaela had a secret love for thick crust pepperoni with extra cheese, but what could you offer a giant metal robot in terms of food? It wasn't like in the movies where they ate scrap metal or literally sucked energy out of sockets.

An idea had formed when they passed a video rental place on the way back. Sam had Bee run by his house so he could grab a few things he needed for a comfortable dinner. For Mikaela and himself there were two low to the ground folding chairs, a small lantern, and some wet wipes to clean up with. For the bots, he had something special in the form of a tiny, flat gray box.

Swoop winged down, landing beside the little box; he eyed it speculatively as Sam and Mikaela cleaned up for dinner. He poked at the box with his beak, slightly uncomfortable with how it seemed to be a smaller version of himself. Sam picked up the box with flourish and set it down on top of the old television that Ratchet had been fiddling with. With a touch, he opened the top to reveal a tiny 12 inch screen portable DVD player. "I thought we might watch a movie. I mean, I know you guys went through the internet, so pretty much everything is spoiled for you... but Bee said he really wanted to see this one as a complete movie in full quality instead of streaming video fragments."

Bumblebee flopped himself down, using the upended turbine as a sort of pillow, "Haha! You guys are gonna love this."

The other three mechs exchanged glances and arranged themselves around the tiny screen. Swoop landed on Ratchet's shoulder, making a show of getting comfortable, then sighing as he leaned against the other bot's head. Ratchet leaned forward a little, oblivious to the bird's ministrations.

Sam covered the screen as he cued up the film, then hurried back to his seat beside Mikaela, accepting a napkin and a big greasy slab of pizza from her. Mikaela turned her head towards the screen, smiling as the familiar strains of music poured from the tiny speakers of the dvd player. Yellow text, long memorized by heart, went scrolling past the screen as the movie began.


End file.
